Amritsar [audio 15min]

"Empire" 83rd of 90: In April 1919 brigadier general Edward Dyer ordered his troops to kill unarmed men, women and children close by one of the holiest shrines in India. The event is still known as the Amritsar Massacre. Hundreds dead. More than 1000 wounded. The Massacre was a British response to the growing sense of revolution in India. The anti-British feeling among Indians extended from the Indian communities abroad - for example, those in California where the Ghadr Party was founded in San Francisco in 1913 - to the increasing vociferous independence groups throughout the subcontinent. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian Christopher Lee and narrated by actor Juliet Stevenson. ~Visit website to listen again to 5 most recent episodes, plus interactive maps and timeline, biographical dictionary, image galleries, quizzes, sources, resources, listeners' comments.